Of Blood and Steel: The Rewrite
by Panzer4life
Summary: Riko 'Erwin' Matsumoto ends up being forced to move to the United States, where she takes the helm to lead Raven's Peak tankery team through the challenges of tankery championships. Will she be able to lead them to victory, or will the burden of others drag her down? Rate T for language and minor violence
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This is my (actual) second work of fan-fiction, and thus some things need to be addressed first;**

**1: I don't own 'Girls und Panzer'.**

**2: Constructive criticism is fine; flaming isn't, so if you want to leave a review of the story, please keep this in mind.**

**3: If any characters seem OOC, please note I have only watched the anime and a bit of GuP: Little Army. Please tell me if I got any of them wrong.**

**And with that, let us proceed. PANZER VOR!**

* * *

**Chapter 1: A new beginning**

Riko 'Erwin' Matsumoto was listening to 'Panzerlied' on her IPod, enjoying her summer break. The national Tankery championship was over, and Oarai High had become the champions, having beaten Kuromorimine Girls High School. After the celebrations, the parade, and the tankery feast, Erwin was ready to enjoy her summer break.

She was lounging on her patio, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, taking in the view. It was breathtaking, the sun glisten off the waves. She could however also see the town that made up the school ship, and she saw people going about their daily lives. She smiled, glad to have been a part of this school.

She was about to begin reading Vom Kriege, a book on military strategy written by a Prussian general, when the doorbell ringed. She put her book down, getting up.

"I wonder who that could be?" Erwin wondered aloud. She looked in the mirror, making sure she looked good. Her blonde hair was normal, forming two spikes that made her look like a desert fox, her tropical field Marshall uniform was neat and crisp, and her peak helmet fitted on her head.

Satisfied with how she looked, she went to the door, and opened it.

"Hello, who is… Mother?!" Erwin gasped, surprised by her mother's appearance. Her mother was wearing a black dress, and had a pair of white leather gloves on. Her hair was blonde, but unlike Erwin's, her fell straight down past her shoulders.

"My, how have you been Riko?" her mother asked, walking into Erwin's dorm. Erwin watched as her mother scanned her selection of various military strategy books, written by various German officers. Her mother turned to face her again, her face becoming stern. Erwin shook herself.

"I have been fine mother," Erwin replied. Her mother smiled. "I am sure you know that I am a part of the Tankery group here at Oarai." Her mother nodded.

"I did know that, did you think I didn't keep tabs on you while I was overseas on business meetings?" Erwin blushed, as that is what she thought. She wasn't close to her mother in anyway, but they weren't cold to one another like Miho was with her mother. She was about to apologize when her mother sat down on the couch.

"Riko, sit down, we need to talk," she said. Erwin sat down opposite of her mother, wondering what was so important. Her mother rested her elbows on her knees, her chin in her hands. She sighed, feeling terrible for what she was about to say.

"Riko, I got a job with a defense contractor working as a sales representative," her mother began. "There were a couple of conditions though. The first of which is that I live in the US." Erwin pulled her peak cap off her head and began to fiddle with the brow.

"So mother, you got to live in the US, so what? What does this have to do with me?"

"Well, the defense contractor has a policy where the families of employees must be in the US. So in effect, you to have to come to the US." Erwin felt herself tense up. "I know that you have one year left of high school, and I know you would rather finish it here with your friends, but Riko, I have to get this job, otherwise I couldn't even pay to have you go to school."

Erwin stood up, her face flushing in anger.

"Why did you make this decision without asking me mother?!" Erwin demanded. "You could've gotten any job, so why did you have to accept this one?" Her mother stood up and stared down at Riko.

"Riko Matsumoto, I didn't make this decision lightly, but in all fairness, we need the money. Ever since your father died two years ago due to liver failure and due to his outstanding debts that he left us with to deal with, I have been barely making ends meet. I could barely afford to keep you in school before. However with Oarai being a championship school, they decided to raise their tuition fees, and I can't afford it anymore." Erwin's mother walked over to the door, sighing in frustration at Erwin's behavior.

"Thus, at the end of the week, we will be moving to our new home, and you will get used to it." Erwin's mother then left, leaving Erwin to go to her room and curdle up, weeping quietly.

She _hated_ her mother, she hated how her father's death left the family in debt, and she hated her circumstances. She hated how when she finally made a lot of friends, she was going to leave them behind and start anew. Erwin threw her peak cap at the wall in frustration.

Erwin spent the next couple of hours crying, until the doorbell rang. Wiping her face and collecting her cap, she headed to the door.

"Who is it?" mumbled Erwin. She heard several people shuffling behind the door.

"Um, it's me, Miho, with Hana, Yukari, Saori, and Mako." Erwin sighed. She opened the door.

"You guys make yourself at home," Erwin said, her voice still not at its peak due to her weeping. Miho noticed this.

"Something wrong Erwin?" Miho asked. Erwin nodded.

"Yeah, my mother told me today that by the end of the week I will be in the US, regardless of what I want." She saw the others' faces fell.

"But, what about your classes, your credit, don't you have the option to stay here and continue classes?" Miho asked.

"No, my mother was quite adamant about the fact that she can't afford to keep me here," Erwin said, slumping into a chair. "Thus, I have to go to the US, lest I end up not being able to go to school."

Miho looked at Erwin, who was looking depressed and down on herself. She frowned, feeling helpless in the situation. She looked at the others, and they too were feeling helpless. She sighed.

"Erwin, if there is anything we can do to help out, just…" Erwin stood up, interrupting Miho.

"Thanks Miho, Mako, Hana, Saori, and Yukari, but honestly, the only thing I can do is getting ready for the move." She looked at her things, and realized something that she could have some help with.

"Um, not to be rude, but can you guys help me pack?"

* * *

The week had passed, and Erwin was on the Boeing 767 sitting next to her mother. She was still angry at her mother, for forcing her to move away from her friends, but her friends had made her last week in Oarai the best.

They had a day dedicated to her leaving. In the morning, they held a mock battle between the teams. Erwin was the commander team Bravo while Miho was the captain for team Alpha. The battle was epic, with Erwin having maneuvered her team to flank Miho's from the North and South, creating confusion in Miho's rank and her Stug III knocked out Miho's Panzer IV.

They then went back to the hangar and they had a small party. At the end of the day, everyone gave Erwin a gift. From Miho and her friends, they gave Erwin a model of the Stug III she had commanded. Her close friends from Hippo team gave her several books on German military doctrine. The student council and the others teams pitched in to get Erwin a computer with all the features needed for her to face chat with them.

Erwin was happy that her friends were so kind to her, which made the move all the more painful. She looked at her mother, who was asleep. Erwin sighed, deciding to continue reading 'Vom Kriege', one of the books her friend 'Caeser' gave her. While it was based on tactics for early 1800s military strategy, it was a good read and it did provide some useful bits on commanding forces and how to conduct battle. At that time the pilot spoke on the intercom.

"We are beginning our approach to Dallas International Airport. All passengers, please buckle up." Erwin saw her mother stir awake, and she hastily buckled herself up. Erwin did the same, putting her book away.

After the plane touched down, gotten off of the plane, and grabbed the remainder of their bags, Erwin followed her mother to a cab. She sat in the back, and saw the cab driver was an older man, roughly the same age as her mother.

"Where to ma'am?" the cab driver asked. Her mother smiled.

"Do you know where the corporate building for Moran Tactical Solutions is?" her mother asked. Erwin had learned that this was the defense contractor her mother was working for the day before. The cab driver nodded wearily.

"Yeah, it'll be $12.50 for the two of you; just be glad your fight arrived now instead of rush hour as the AC in my cab is broke." her mother nodded again.

"Alright, and thank you for the heads up." As the cab driver started driving, Erwin's mother turned to her.

"Now Riko, when we meet my friend, you will treat her with respect and not insult her, do you understand?" Erwin nodded, still annoyed at her mother for having to uproot her from her friends. It wasn't that long of a drive to the MTS corporate building, but Riko saw that it was rather imposing. A tall black monolithic building stood tall, and around the base was a thick concrete wall lined with barbed wire and a couple of watch towers with marksman eyeing the perimeter. Riko wondered why her mother decided to work for a defense contractor.

She was about to ask her mother what was special about the job (something she should've done back at her dorm now that she reflected on it) when the cab stopped, just short of the gate. As Erwin and her mother got out and paid the cab driver, a woman around her mother's age with auburn red hair and wearing a light brown business dress drove up behind the cab driver. Her mother nudged Riko, something that irked the blonde girl.

"That would be my friend," Erwin's mother commented. "C'mon, let's go." After loading the car with their bags and getting it, her mother set out to introduce each other.

"Hello Catherine," Erwin's mother said. "How nice to see you. This here is my daughter Riko." Catherine smiled at Erwin.

"Hello Riko, how are you doing?" Erwin faked a smile.

"I am alright, a bit tired from the plane flight." Catherine continued to smile, not noticing Erwin's ersatz smile.

"Well, let's get you and your mother home," Catherine said. "I hope you guys don't mind if I help unpack some things, do you?" Erwin was about to speak up when her mother shook her head.

"No, and thank you. I presume you mainly unpacked the boxes in my room."

"Yes, I left Riko's stuff untouched. I figure I shouldn't go through a young girl's belongings." Erwin silently thanked Catherine; she knew her mother would go through anything, regardless of whose it was.

The drive to their house was uneventful, as could be expected after spending several hours on a plan and just wanting to sleep. As Erwin watched them pass through several small towns, Erwin couldn't help but wonder how Americans were like. Were they are snobbish, ignorant, or as stupid as the stereotypes made them out to be? She didn't pay attention to her mother and friend's conversation, as it was about work.

After nearly an hour, they finally arrived at 'home'. Erwin looked out to see at the end of a short driveway a simple two story house. Getting out of the car, Erwin grabbed her bag, and followed her mother once again into the house with Catherine. She looked inside, and saw that the house was simple. The walls were painted white, there wasn't a lot of furniture, and the layout was simple, with a bathroom, living room, and kitchen on the first floor, and she presumed the bedrooms on the second story. She noted a stairwell into the basement.

"Well Riko, we are home," her mother commented. "What do you think of it?" Erwin sighed.

"It is alright, a bit small for a house, but larger than my dorm room." Her mother nodded.

"Yes, this house was on foreclosure, which allowed me to buy it cheaper than what I normally would be able to. Anyway, while I and Catherine start on dinner, how about you head to your room; it is the first door on the left." Her mother then retreated into the kitchen with Catherine.

Glad to be finally away from her mother, Erwin headed up the stair, and opened her room. Inside was a small desk with a box on top of it (no doubt her computer), a simple bed with green sheets and a black blanket, and a stand for a TV on the wall. Erwin began to unpack her boxes, placing her book onto a shelf above her desk, setting up her computer, and placing the Stug III model at the end of the book shelf.

Erwin was about to start unpacking her various military uniforms when Catherine knocked on the door.

"Riko, dinner is done," Catherine said. She saw Erwin's face, which was torn between anger and sadness. "Everything alright?" Erwin shook her head.

"No, it's just I didn't expect to move away from all my friends, or to end up in the US," Erwin said. "Plus, it doesn't help that my mother can be cold at times." Catherine nodded.

"Well, I can't help about you missing your friends, and to be honest, I wouldn't know how, considering I was an army brat. I tended to move around every four years, thus I never made any long term friendships."

Catherine looked at the books Erwin had, and smiled.

"I suppose you are a big history nut aren't you? And I heard you are into tankery, which is good." Erwin was surprised by Catherine's statement.

"What do you mean?" Erwin asked. "I thought tankery was something that only Japan did." Catherine shook her head.

"Nah, the US Board of Education and the Department of Defense saw the potential in tankery, and thus it is coming to the US. I hear that the school you are going to will be having tankery as an elective."

Erwin smiled at this; at least she will still be able to enjoy tankery while in the states. She then paused, realizing she didn't even know what school she was going to.

"Um, what school am I going to?" Erwin asked. Catherine started to leave, but she stopped at the door.

"It is called Raven's Peak High School, my daughter goes there." With that tidbit of information, Erwin jotted the name of the school down, before heading down stairs to eat dinner with her mother. She was going to see what was up with tankery here in the states, and see how good the school was.

* * *

Erwin was tired, but finally all the boxes were unpacked, and everything was sorted away. She had been unpacking for a solid week, while her mother was away at work. Erwin was annoyed at this bit of information, as she felt her mother was using to do the bulk of the work.

She sighed, seeing how she would start classes soon. Unlike most of the other high schools in the area, Raven's Peak started mid-July, which left Erwin only five days left to enjoy her summer break. She felt like it was cut short, but there wasn't anything she could do about it.

Getting up, she headed to her room and turned her computer on. She was hoping to face chat with Miho. She had to wait a few minutes, but Miho's face popped up on her screen.

"Hi Erwin," Miho said. "How is the US?" Erwin leaned back in her chair.

"It's not too bad, but you guy aren't here, so I am bored much of the time."

"That sucks. Well, I hope you get some friends soon. Hey, have you heard that they are starting up an international tankery championship?" Erwin's interests piqued at this.

"No, but I learned that the US is starting tankery up, why what have you heard?" Miho smiled.

"Well, I heard that many major nations, like China, Russia, Germany, France, Australia, and a few others are starting up tankery. I am glad that the US is starting up tankery; maybe we will see each other at the championships!" Miho began to laugh, causing Erwin to laugh as well.

"That would be a welcome sight," Erwin admitted. "So what have the others been up to?" Miho took out a PDA.

"Well, we have been training, we already got three new teams formed up to train on the new tanks we have, and Caeser has taken command of Hippo Team. Besides tankery, we have been hanging out on and off again. But school isn't until late August."

"Beats having to go to school in five days," muttered Erwin. Miho gasped.

"What, you only got a month of vacation though!" argued Miho.

"Doesn't matter, I got school in five days, I just hope it isn't a nightmare at school. Hope no one makes fun of my get up." Miho laughed.

"Well, they don't have uniforms at US high schools, so I bet it will be shocking to see what people wear." Miho joked. "But I doubt anyone will mind. Say, how are you and your mother getting on?" Erwin clenched her fist, but she understood that Miho was only curious.

"Not well, I still haven't forgiven her for being an ice queen, and she is so caught up in her work that she doesn't pay any attention to me." Miho frowned at this and was going to speak up when the doorbell rang. Erwin glanced to her door.

"Hey Miho, I will talk to you later, I got to see who this is," Erwin said, and she shut off the program. She headed downstairs and headed to the door.

"Who is it?" Erwin asked.

"It Catherine and my daughter," said the red-headed woman. "Mind if we come in?" Erwin, while shocked at Catherine's arrival, opened the door. She saw Catherine followed by her daughter, who upon entering thrust her hand towards Erwin.

"My name is Katie, nice to meet you Riko." Katie had deep velvet colored hair, was a little taller than Riko, and had blue eyes. She was wearing a woodland patterned camouflage shirt and pants. Erwin shook her hands.

"Nice to meet you to Katie," Erwin turned to face Catherine. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, but what are you two doing here?" Catherine smiled.

"Well, I noticed you don't go out much, being busy with unpacking, and I thought it would be nice for you to meet Katie, so you won't be so shell shocked upon going to the high school." Katie then looked at the stairway.

"Hey, is your room up here?" Katie said, running up the stairs. Erwin, panicking, chased after here.

"Katie, wait, I haven't…" Erwin hadn't been able to finish, as Katie was already in her room, looking around, seeing the mess of boxes filled with her military history books, military memorabilia, and her collection of model tanks and uniforms.

"Why, I didn't have you pegged as a military nut," Katie said, whistling in appreciation at Erwin's collection. Erwin sighed.

"Really, is having a fascination with military history a bad thing?" Erwin asked. Katie chuckled before shaking her head.

"If we were in some liberal state like California or New York, then perhaps, but here in Texas, no one cares if a girl likes big ass tanks, guns, or anything of the like," Katie stated quite confidently. "Then again, that kind of attitude gets us a lot of flak with the more left wing population, but oh well, screw 'em!"

Erwin watched as Katie flopped on her bed, stretching out until she was quite content. Erwin was able to slide into a chair before Katie spoke up again.

"So Erwin, you have other clothes than your uniforms, right?" Erwin nodded.

"Yeah, I have some denim jeans and a fair number of camouflage shirts to wear in lieu of my uniforms," Erwin replied. "Though what can you tell me about Raven's Peak?" Katie paused, putting her finger on her lip in contemplation.

"Well, I figure that first thing you should know is that the queen bitch of the school is Jaqueline Lindsay, though Jackie is what everyone calls her," Katie started. "She isn't a bitch in that she insults or looks down on everyone; it's more like she doesn't understand that the world doesn't revolve around her fat ass. She tries without failure to be the lead in whatever she gets involved in; she was the lead cheerleader, is the student president, and is currently the team leader for the various sports teams that females can play."

"But with tankery coming to Raven's Peak this year, I really, really hope that she can't stand getting dirty as she has a control issue from hell," Katie stated. "If she is team leader, she will hound us something fierce until most of the people who join leave. I remember when she first got onto the school's volleyball team, and within two weeks she drove out half the team due to her constant nagging and insistence to train."

"Wow, she sounds like a number of the perfectionist that was pretty common back in Japan," Erwin commented, quietly playing with a model of a Panzer IV. "So besides Jackie, anyone of note; like teachers?" Katie nodded.

"Well, there is Henrietta Moran," Katie said. "Her father is the CEO of MTS, and due to a number of the school students having members in the armed forces, they tend to look down on her due to her father being, and I quote 'A death dealing scum bag'. However, I know her from the schools JROTC program that she is pretty nice and helpful, if a bit shy at times."

"Why do people pick on Henrietta if their beef is with her father?" Erwin asked. Katie laughed.

"Because people are fucking cowards," Katie stated, her voice giving the impression she had given the subject some thought. "No one would be stupid to piss off Mr. Moran, not when he has a literal army behind him. But from what I gather from Henrietta, her father mostly deals with private security missions, like VIP escort and patrolling of major ports, not like what most people think of in terms of PMCs."

"I see," Erwin said. "So, are you going to be joining Tankery?" Katie nodded.

"Yeah, I mean of all the classes they have that aren't core classes, tankery is the only one I would really care to join," Katie answered. "I can't speak another language; I've tried to learn German and I failed catastrophically. And the rest, I don't know, just don't float my boat, if you know what I mean."

"I get you there," Erwin said. "I remember when it came time to choose electives or clubs at Ooarai and I ended up in the small History club because I can't stand sports and didn't want to choose something 'feminine' like flower arrangement." Katie stared at Erwin as though she grew a second head.

"Seriously, there was an elective to…"

"Train someone how to arrange flowers, yes," Erwin completed. "I don't get it either." Katie shook her head.

"That has got to be the most useless elective I have ever heard of," Katie stated. "Oh well, hey, want to see something awesome?" Erwin shrugged, and Katie quickly opened a web tab on her iPhone. "I heard this a few days ago when I was shopping with my other friends only to bump into Henrietta at the store."

Katie handed Erwin the iPhone, who began reading the web tab. It was an article about a private project that the CEO of MTS, Victor Moran, had decided to reveal to the public. In a move to encourage tankery in the US (as well as broaden the scope of MTS), Victor Moran announced that they were working on a couple of tank chassis that would be given to the semi-finalist teams in the US national tournament. What tanks they were wasn't stated, though Victor Moran stated that 'they would be a decisive vehicle for any team in the tournament, and should make the final round of the competition interesting'.

"Huh, so I guess this is a publicity stunt then?" Erwin replied. Katie nodded.

"Yeah, with the fallout from Blackwater in Iraq and the overwhelming nature of families in the US having military history, I guess MTS is having problems staying popular. I just wonder what tanks they will have; what do you think?"

"Probably some form of heavy tank," Erwin replied. "I know that in the final stages of the Japanese tournament, the teams tended to deploy more and more heavy vehicles to throw around their weight and firepower at the opposition."

The conversation then took a turn about things that Erwin would have to know before entering Raven's Peak. This lasted a few hours before Katie and her mother, after having dinner with Erwin, bid good bye. Erwin spent most of the night before heading to bed thanking Katie's mom for brining Katie over, as entering Raven's Peak wouldn't be so daunting as it was before.

* * *

**Author's Note: Here we are, again, with the first chapter. You might be wondering what is going on. Well, in case you aren't subscribed to my profile or other stories, on Christmas, I announced I was going to do a major rewrite on this story. Namely to make the characters more alive, do better battles, and in general liven the story up. Thus for this first chapter, I didn't change much at first, mostly grammar, and spelling, but there are a few changes worth mentioning.**

**First, Raven's Peak isn't in Washington but rather Texas. The reason for this change was simple; tanks need a lot of open ground to make useful. Also, since Riko's family is supposed to be dealing with debt issues that were incurred by her father before he passed (medical and being finically irresponsible) living in Washington would be extremely stupid, as the cost of living in the state has skyrocketed since I left. **

**Second, getting this out of the way, Moran Tactical Security will be playing a larger role in this story than before. I gave a sneak peak to it at the end and there will be more later on, so be patient. Also, Raven's Peak's tank selection has changed quite dramatically; you will get to see it when I initially debut the tanks, so please wait, it is incoming.**

**As always folks, please follow, favorite, and review! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Okay, please read the first chapter and it's A/N; it will explain a bit of your confusion you guys probably are having right off the bat. Then read this chapter and it's A/N, it will have a bit more details. **

Chapter 2: First day of school.

* * *

Erwin awoke up, rubbing her eyes in disdain. Her alarm was going off, and she hated what time it was. Six in the morning, in her opinion a bit early for a daily occurrence. She was fine if it was once in a while, but having to get up at six for school was going to be annoying.

She sighed, rolling out of bed. She slowly got up and headed to her closest to get some clothes on. She looked at her field marshal uniform, and she sighed. She always wore it at Ooarai, but she didn't want to cause hell at Raven's Peak by standing out. However, she had a backup plan. After putting on a white shirt and kahki cargo pants, she grabbed a Fallschirmjäger jacket, without the medals or insignias.

"Closest thing I can wear to my uniforms without raising too many eyebrows," muttered Erwin to herself, as Katie explained the closest thing to her uniform would be wearing a JROTC uniform (and only on Mondays) or a camouflage shirt. She then strapped on her jack boots and smiled in the mirror. While it wasn't what she would've liked, it was better than wearing the god awful pink shirt Katie's friend Christine had insisted on buying for her.

Erwin shook her head thinking about her day yesterday with Katie, and how school orientation went. She had signed up for JROTC and tankery, but afterwards, Katie insisted that Erwin meet her friends. Erwin didn't have any particular problems with Katie's friends, but they weren't like her old friends.

They didn't like discussing history that much, or rather, Christine had terrible historical knowledge and Joan wasn't interest in political or military history, focusing more in fine arts history. Still, the two had warmed up to Erwin with their plan on joining the tankery class with Katie because the other classes were boring or they had already done. It was only one encounter, so Erwin didn't hold too much against them just yet.

Erwin sighed, heading downstairs to eat breakfast before heading off to the bus stop. She grabbed a bowl of cereal and began to eat when her mother came out. Her hair was a mess and she was wearing a robe and slippers. She walked tiredly to the coffee pot.

"Hi Erwin," she said quietly. "Have a good day at school. By the way, I won't be home tonight; they are having a business party at MTS that I have to attend, so if you want, you can invite your friend over." Erwin nodded, still eating her breakfast. She however watched her mother walk into the living room and sat to drink her coffee.

After finishing breakfast, Erwin quickly cleaned her bowl and grabbed her school bag, which was nothing more than a fancy duffle bag. She headed out the door without saying good-bye to her mother, and walked in the quiet street to the bus stop.

She yawned, and leaned on the telephone pole, waiting for the bus to arrive. She continued to wait as a guy wearing all gray and having white hair came up. He waved at Erwin, and when he got close he extended his hand to Erwin.

"Hi, my name's Erich Schwarz," he said. Erwin shook his hand, and he had a firm grip. "So what's your name, you don't look like a local." Erwin nodded.

"My name is Riko Matsumoto, though my friends usually call me Erwin." Erich shook his head disbelieving.

"I won't know how some names change. Like how does Riko become Erwin, or how Robert becomes Bob." His comment made Erwin chuckled a little bit; he didn't know about her, which made it funny.

"No, it was because I wore a field marshal jacket and peak cap, making me look like Erwin Rommel, you know, the famous panzer commander," Erwin tried to explain, stumbling on her words. Erich however smirked.

"Oh, I get it," he said. "But why did you wear that?" Erwin shrugged.

"Well, it looked good, and when I entered tankery back at my old school, it made it all the more, what's the word, fitting." Erich chuckled.

"So you are going to join the tankery team then?" he asked. "Well, good luck to you. I will be in the automotive maintenance class, and I was told that for the coming nationals, we will be coming along with you guys to maintain you tanks."

Erwin was surprised by this bit of information. She made a mental note to be kind to those in the automotive maintenance class, otherwise she could experience drive issues.

"Good to know," Erwin said. "So do you look forward to the national's?" Erich shrugged.

"I don't particularly care one way or another. I mean it'll be fun watching the matches, but then myself and the others in AM class will be making repairs, refueling the tanks, washing them up, et cetera once the match is over. It bee neat to see if some of the AM can join the tankery team, especially since I heard Raven's Peak hasn't got all of their tanks yet."

"Huh, what do you mean?" Erwin asked. Erich chuckled.

"Well, since my AM teacher, Mr. Richards, helped the tankery instructors and the school select the tanks, he suggested they get half of the 15 tanks, so they can see what works and what doesn't, so that they can make adjustments to the lineup as needed."

"I see," Erwin said. The bus cam and the two got on board the bus. It wasn't long until the bus came to Katie's house and Katie got on board.

"Excited for today?" Katie asked. Erwin nodded quietly. "Well, if anything, we have JROTC and tankery to look forward to."

"Sort of," Erwin muttered tiredly. Katie nodded.

"Yeah, first day of school; so tired that any excitement you have is drowned by your yawns." Katie said. Erwin nodded, and the two began chatting for a bit, speculating on the possible tanks the school will have (Erwin wished they had a Stug III, like the one back in Oarai), they saw Raven's Peak. Despite having already seen it, Erwin was in awe of Raven's Peak.

Designed like the Pentagon, Raven's peak had three floors, with classes on the first and third, and lockers on the second floor. Each segment of the school held a different school subject, and the schedule for each student was made to optimize travel time around school, requiring the least amount of time as possible between classes, or so Katie explained. Erwin would have to wait and see.

* * *

Erwin was wishing she had brought some pills for her blistering headache. She was walking with Katie to room 510 for JROTC, and she was annoyed. Were all Americans talking like they were deaf? Unused to the noise and chaos in Raven's Peak, Erwin wasn't enjoying her first day. First class was calculus and Erwin had the misfortune of being table partners with Jackie Lindsay.

Jackie was many things, but Erwin wasn't quite prepared for her 'take charge' attitude. Jackie seemed to take it upon herself to bring order to their table, despite it only being the first lesson. Whenever one of Erwin's pencils went rolling across the table, Jackie didn't simply put it back; no, she had to slam it down in its place rather violently. By the end of the simple intro lesson, Erwin wanted nothing more than to shove Jackie's lesson planner right up her ass for her controlling personality.

And then Erwin had an issue with various guys that were hitting on the 'cute asian'. Erwin was irked to say the least, and was forced to smash a guy's toes with her jack boots when he tried to grope her ass. That resulted in a passing teacher to pulling her aside and chiding her for resorting to such a method of discipline. So it as she was walking with Katie, she decided to ask a fairly obvious question.

"Are all the guys pigs at this school?" Erwin asked Katie. Katie sighed.

"Not really but the ass hats are the most recognizable, and thus they get all the attention. But there are some guys who are really nice, cute even, but I shouldn't talk, I usually ended up dating jerks." Katie laughed, but Erwin was confused as to why; what was funny about dating jerks?

But they entered room 510, and they both sat in the back as one of the tables. They both were talking when the bell rung and a man who looked in his thirties walked in. He wore army greens, had a buzz cut, and was very well toned. He walked to the front of the class. He stood at ease in front of the class.

"My name is Captain Proctor, and you will refer to me as such or as 'sir'. Some of you have been in this course the previous years, and some of you are completely fresh, but as a rule, I expect all of you to conduct yourself in a respectable and honorable manner. I hear any of you are causing trouble out of this class, I will make your life hell in this class." His voice was stern and full of authority.

"Some of you may have notice the absence of Sergeant Harper. This is because as of this year, Raven's Peak has started a tankery course, and he has shifted to being the teacher overseeing the class. Now, are there any questions before I begin with the lesson?" No one said anything, so he looked over at a girl in the front row.

"Cadet Corporal Moran, please hand these out to everyone in the class," Cpt. Proctor instructed. A girl with brown hair and eyes wearing a gray skirt and shirt stood up, and taking the papers from him, she began to hand each person a set of papers. She was about to get to Erwin and Katie when some guy stuck his leg out, causing her to trip. Erwin went to help her up with the captain went over to the guy.

"Cadet Private Hicks, explain yourself!" yelled Proctor. Hicks smirked.

"Why should a bitch of war be allowed to join?" Hicks said. Proctor however grabbed the guy by his collar and dragged him out of the class, and began to bellow at him in the hallway. Erwin looked at the girl.

"You alright Moran?" Erwin asked, feeling bad that she didn't know the girl. The girl smiled, and began to restack the papers.

"I am fine," she said in a low voice. "That was mild in comparison to earlier. I had been locked in a janitor's office earlier." Erwin felt herself tense up; she knew that Katie said that Henrietta was treated like crap, but she hadn't expected it to be shit like this!

"What happened to those that did that to you?" Erwin asked. Katie however answered.

"The little shits were only told off as one of the precious 'gems' was the son of the district super intendant. Mr. Jacob Austin, said douchebag, always gets off, unless caught by either Cpt. Proctor or Sgt. Harper."

Erwin felt disgusted, a kid using his father's position to slip past the scrunity of the teachers who probably were worried about their jobs. But Erwin shook her anger and decided to help Henrietta out with getting the rest of the papers distributed. By this time, Proctor was back in with Hicks looking a bit white, which Erwin was thankful for.

"Now then, after the disturbance caused by Pvt. Hicks, let's return to the task at hand," He said. He turned on a projector, and it displayed basic rank structure of the JROTC.

"For the new people here, this is the structure of the JROTC. The lowest rank is private, and the highest is colonel. With each rank, your responsibility increases, and thus you are to be shown competent in your job and be of integrity." He then went on in a lecture until half-way through the class. He then told everyone to get to the track, which was thankfully just outside the five hundred hall.

Erwin and Katie went off in a steady pace to the track, leading the others as they were the ones closest to the door. Erwin noticed Katie's huffing as they got to the track, but not having time to think about, Erwin and the others were forced through a rigorous workout of push-ups, sit-ups, flutter-kicks, and plenty of sprinting.

By the end of the class, everyone was sweating, never mind they only worked out for half an hour. Erwin looked at Katie, who was sweating profusely and gave her thumbs up. Katie smiled and returned the gesture. They began to head to their tankery class, which was being held in the newly made tank halls, but thankfully they were just on the other side of the tracks.

Erwin and Katie began talking about what tanks they expected to see, when Erwin noticed Henrietta hanging behind them.

"Hey, Henrietta, want to talk with us?" Erwin asked. Henrietta smiled, and jogged to catch up. Erwin smiled a little; Henrietta probably could use a pick me up after the stunt by Hicks in JROTC.

"So you look forward to tankery?" Erwin asked. Henrietta nodded.

"Yeah, I had practice driving tanks, my father is an avid tank collector, and on the weekends he lets me drive them, of course only when he is around," Henrietta stated.

"What tanks does your father have?" Katie asked. Henrietta shrugged.

"Well, most of them are WW2 era tanks, but he has a couple of Cold-War tanks. His favorite though is the one he is reconstructing based on its blue-prints, the E-100 super heavy tank." Erwin smiled; while the E-100 was never completed, it was designed and the hull and chassis were completed. It was designed to replace the heavy tanks like the King Tiger and Jagdtiger. She momentarily wonder if it was going to be one of the 'prize tanks' for the semi-finalist for the US nationals, but she shook the notion off. Who would 'gift' a super heavy tank that lightly?

"Ah, that must be expensive," Erwin remarked. "What gun is it going to have?" Henrietta again shrugged.

"I don't know, all I know is that father is annoyed with the progress of his work, apparently getting the parts fashioned out is taking longer than he expected."

They arrived at the tank hangar, and saw a lot of people, each in their own groups. Erwin saw Jackie and her friends in one group, causing the three of them to sigh. However, Erwin saw Katie waving over her friends Joan and Christine over.

After a minute of talking, Erwin noticed a man walking in front of the tank hangar. He was stout, very muscular, and had dark brown hair. He whistled loudly to get everyone attention.

"Alright everyone, settle down!" he yelled, and soon everyone turned to face him. "My name is Sergeant Harper, and I am your teacher slash instructor for tankery. Now, your primary instructor will be here on Monday, so you will have time to get to know your tanks before she gets here from Japan."

He turned to look at the blob of people and sighed.

"Now, all of you, gather in groups of no less than three and no more than five!" Erwin saw a flurry of people trying to get into Jackie's group, but it appeared she had her group already selected. Erwin and the others watched at those rejected returned to their own group.

After a moment, Sgt. Harper then ordered each group to line up, with their intended commander in front. Unanimously, and due to her experience in tankery, Erwin was selected to lead their group, and Jackie was selected to be the leader of her group. The others took a while to organize, but it was done in a minute. Sgt. Harper then began left to right, and began to make adjustments as needed. After making the adjustments, he then spoke.

"Alright, now everyone, look in front and behind you, these are your tank mates. They will back you up and you will back them up. You all will be given a specific goal, and you will learn how best to follow your task." He paused, taking a breath. Erwin hope they would see the tanks they will be operating. But her hopes were dashed when he spoke.

"For today, we will study basic crew positions and their tasks, and you will learn basic tank maintenance as well." He led the entire group to a mock model of a Panzer III. He then began to instruct the class of the various roles and positions of the tank, with only Erwin and Henrietta rolling their eyes.

After half an hour of lecturing about positions and maintenance, Sgt. Harper then instructed the class to work on communication skills, using radio and intercom communication. Erwin was quick to help the others in her crew, but the other groups struggled with the older radios. Some tried to cheat using cell phones, but Sgt. Harper quickly confiscated them, usually with a good hashing at those that tried to cheat.

By the end of the class, Erwin was longing to get home, her first day being boring and dull. However, before dismissing the class, Sgt. Harper brought some annoying news to front.

"After the arrival of the instructor, you will have one week to choose a team captain. This person must have good tactical experience, work well with others, and has extensive knowledge regarding the tanks that are in use."

Erwin groaned; while she had good tactical experience, and knew most of the tanks of the era, she had problems with others. Worse still, she and several others expected Jackie to rear her face into the issue and force her way into being the captain.

As she left to head for the buses, she walked with the others in her crew. Joan and Christine were talking fashion with Katie, leaving Henrietta to talk to Erwin.

"So Riko, I saw the match between Ooarai and Kuromorimine," Henrietta said. "I have to ask, why did you stand your ground against the Maus in your Stug III?" Erwin chuckled. It was admittedly stupid to have done; even on the best of days, the Stug III stood no chance against a Maus.

"Well, I wanted to avenge Duck team after their Char B1 was knocked out," Erwin said. Henrietta nodded.

"I guess that makes sense. But it makes me wonder, what are we going to do if a team brings in a Maus?" Erwin shrugged.

"Well, only one was ever made, and that is owned by Kuromorimine, so the odds of us facing it in the nationals are next to none," reasoned Erwin. "But still, unless we have a tank with either a massive cannon or as much armor, we can't expect to do much against it. The plan Miho pulled off was reckless, but it worked none the less."

Erwin then saw the busses and waved good bye to Henrietta, Joan, and Christine. She got on the bus with Katie, sighing in contemplation. Her first day was by no mean terrible, but it was fairly dull.

Erwin looked over at Katie once they were seated.

"Hey Katie, want to hang out at my place?" Erwin asked. Katie sighed.

"I can't, my grandparents are coming up to the house for the weekend, and I have to hang out with them," Katie said. "I love them, but it can be boring if you know what I mean." Erwin shook her head; both of her parents' parents were dead long before Erwin was born.

Katie saw this and looked embarrassed.

"Sorry, I didn't know," Katie apologized. "Er, if you don't mind me asking, how did your father die? I heard it from my mother…"

"My father died of liver failure. My family poured money into his treatment, but with terrible insurance and other debts that my dad left us, we couldn't afford to keep up the treatments. It is why I am here, my mother got a job at MTS and we are pretty poor overall."

Katie looked down, feeling bad for bringing it up. She hugged Erwin, saying sorry softly into her ear. Erwin meanwhile blushed, unused to being hugged.

"It's alright, it happened two years ago, so the pain is largely gone," Erwin said. "Anyway, I have a question, what tanks do you think we are going to get?" Katie shrugged, and they spent the bus ride thinking of possible tanks. Erwin enjoyed the conversation, especially when it came to which heavy tank was better; the King Tiger or the IS-2. Erwin insisted that the King Tiger was the best with its long range performance and armor, but Katie argued that the gun of the IS-2 compensated for its thinner armor and the need to lower the gun to reload.

All in all Erwin enjoyed the bus ride home, looking forward to Monday where she would meet the instructor, wear her JROTC uniform, and see what tanks they would have. Erwin continued to ponder on what tanks they would have as Katie got off the bus, and as the sky began to darken as it began to rain.

* * *

**Author's Notes: Well, here's the second chapter to the rewrite, and I want to get a few things stated. **

**I was simply going to go back to the old story and update the chapters when I got them updated, yet I noticed that it didn't send out a email alert to when I updated the chapter when I did it for the first chapter. As a result, I have decided to scrap that idea and simply post the rewrite under a new story.**

**Second, while the first two chapters were revised version of their respectives chapters, the following chapters will not be. This is because of a number of factors, which I will be listing down below;**

**1: I am not having to work around the idiocy that was my first attempt at Erwin's tank (if you recall, it was supposed to be the Semovente 90/53), so that will literally cut down on a lot of the text and also the most of one chapter.**

**2: I am not focusing on romance so much, and more focusing on the comradery between the tank crews. And this leads to the next point.**

**3: The other tank crews (outside of Erwin's crew) will have their view actually represented, instead of simply the tank commanders. This means there will be a shit ton of OCs, but hey, you guys can pitch in your idea for OCs, especially when-**

**4: You see the new lineup of tanks. Raven's Peak isn't having that convoluted 'strategy-based' tank lineup. Instead, the tanks will be largely prototypes or tank designs that didn't reach mass production. So expect a surprise in the next chapter.**

**5: We will see actual character development in the major characters. People like Jackie and the upcoming Erika won't be 1 sided character. They will have personalities and they will evolve with the story.**

**That is it for now, so until next time, please read, follow, favorite, and review!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Tanks, lots of tanks! Oh, and the instructor from Black Forest.

* * *

Erwin groaned the anxiety of the tankery class and what tanks Raven's Peak would have had a profound impact on her day. First, she woke up two hours before she had to, and then life seemed to slow the fuck down. She seemed to either get whatever she was doing done in record time or people were just extremely slow, but in any case, the day seemed to drag on.

When she got to classes, Erwin wanted to tear her hair out in sheer frustration. The teachers seemed to simply talk slow, handed papers out slow, and responded in an extremely slow and methodical manner. But it wasn't just the teachers; oh no, alas Erwin noticed that it also were the other students who seemed to have slowed down. They answered slowly, as though the entire school had been zombiefied.

Right now, she was in JROTC class sitting between Katie and Henrietta, the duo noticing Erwin's anxiousness.

"Um, Erwin, is everything okay?" Katie asked quietly, while working on their assignment, which consisted of filling out the chain of command for the US military, and the general responsibilities of each person.

"Yeah, just wanting to get this class over," Erwin yawned. "I want to see the tanks we are going to have for the nationals."

"I can understand the excitement," Henrietta said. "I barely slept last night because my mind was racing to think of what tanks we might have."

"Well then, we only have a few more minutes until this class is out," Katie replied. "Besides, we have this stinking CoC chart to fill out. I mean, seriously, just how are we supposed to remember all this?" Erwin shrugged.

"I'm not sure, but perhaps it will become second nature to us in due time," Erwin suggested. "Though, on the subject of our tankery class, what tanks do you two think we will have?"

"Perhaps we will get someT-34/85 tanks," Henrietta replied. "They were made in sufficient numbers, and their 85mm cannons were roughly on par with the German 88mm L/56 cannons. Probably a Sherman as well."

"Meh, I just hope we got a Stug on the tank roster; it was a good tank, and I know the layout of it so we can quickly get used to it," Erwin said. Katie frowned.

"I don't know much about tanks, but doesn't the Stug III have a four man crew?" Katie pointed out. "We have five members on our team; You, Henrietta, Joan, Christine, and I. I don't see how we are going to fit into a Stug."

Both Erwin and Henrietta hummed at the logic. You couldn't simply shove another person inside a tank with a combat load as there physically wasn't any space to put them. Erwin had remembered seeing Sgt. Harper shift people around and while. As she recalled, there was only one team with four members. She brought this up to Katie and Henrietta.

"Well, that doesn't remove a lot of tanks from the possible line up," Henrietta said. "Most medium tanks had 5 man crews, like the M4 and the Panzer IV. I think it was most tank destroyers and light tanks that were limited to 4 man tank crews."

"Okay, so what tanks did have 4 man or less crews; perhaps we can eliminate what we can't have due to limitations based on crew size," Katie suggested. Erwin thought about it for a moment, but in retrospect, most of the vehicles limited to a crew of 4 were early war designs, which often were 3 to 4 men. It wasn't until most nations saw the benefit of a three man turret did the crew size increase to five, only for it to drop down to 4 following the war due to advancements in radio technology, thus removing the need for the dedicated radio operator.

"We still have too many tanks to possibly have," Katie said, intervening on Erwin's thoughts. "If I recall, all the major nations of the Second World War had multiple tanks of all classes and many variants therein. So how can we easily determine what kind of tanks we will be getting?"

Erwin and Henrietta looked at each other for a moment, before they both shook their heads. It was a fool's folly to try and determine what tanks they were going to get using only the 'five man crew' limit. There simply was too many tanks.

"Not a clue, though I suppose we can discount at least any super heavy tanks, things like the Maus or T95 tank destroyer. They are few and far between, with one or two prototypes built," Erwin said quietly.

"Maybe not, because remember that MTS will be giving a tank to each of the semi-finalist of the US nationals," Katie reminded Erwin before turning her attention to Henrietta. "By the way, you know which tanks your dad could give away?"

"You think that because my father is the CEO of MTS, I would know what tanks he is going to give away?" Henrietta deadpanned. Katie nodded, not reading Henrietta's reaction correctly. "No, I don't know; I asked my father of course, but he wouldn't say. Which sucks, because for the time being, I'm not allowed into my father's tank garage collection where they are building the 'prize tanks'."

"Damn, that sucks," Katie said. "Oh well, let's finish this damn chart and get ready for tankery next class." The two others agreed and they began the somewhat tedious task of filling out the chart.

* * *

Sgt. Harper was seated at his desk, waiting for his tankery class to begin. He had a lot to do today; introduce Raven's Peak's veteran tankery instructor, get the teams divided into their tanks, and get them situated with how to operate the tank. Speaking of which, the veteran tankery instructor was incidentally sitting across from him, reviewing the spec sheets of the various tanks on the current team.

Erika Itsumi, technically a 3rd year student of Black Forest Academy and 5 year tankery veteran having joined the junior tankery championships in Japan, was interesting. From what he saw in last year's Japanese Tankery Championships, Erika was a proud, highly aggressive commander and supporter of superior firepower tactics, yet here she was, seemingly calm and reserved. The two hadn't talked that much, besides the formal introductions and Harper explaining her position to her, so he would hold his judgement until later.

That said, he was a bit startled by how quiet she had been. It seemed like she wasn't even breathing it was that quiet. Harper had grown accustomed to some form of noise due to his time as a JROTC teacher, but this silence that was at his desk was beginning to disturb him. As if sensing his thoughts, Erika finally spoke up.

"Why hasn't Raven's Peak got all of their tanks yet?" Erika inquired. "I don't support the notion behind the move; we could encounter early on a team flexing the 15 tank limit and with our 6 tanks we will be outnumbers 2-to-1. Granted, most of our tanks have extremely capable cannons, but then they lack armor, turrets, mobility, or all three as the case may be on certain tanks. So why the risky move?"

Harper sighed.

"A couple of reasons that Raven's Peak didn't come out and tell to the prospecting instructors," Harper began. "First, the excuse of using the 6 tanks as a trial period to see what our team likes is actually a piss-poor excuse to cover the fact we don't have the student numbers in tankery as of this point."

"Oh, was the class not well received?" Erika asked. Harper shook his head.

"No, more like the decision to introduce tankery in the US came late in the school year last year, so there wasn't much time for students to change their classes," Harper explained. "We do have enough students that we can fill out the 15 tanks, but it will have to be done in the 2nd half of the school year, or incidentally half way through the US nationals, due to administrative reasons."

"Next, Raven's Peak's funding was cut into due to having to renovate a large portion of the school as a result of an oil fire that occurred at the end of the year. Finally, and perhaps the biggest reason, is that we grabbed a number of rather rare and expensive prototype tanks, which cut into our budget for the class a bit. We can secure more funding for more tanks if we can get to the half way mark of the tournament, so we are in a do-or-lose situation right now."

"I see," Erika said. "That should make things interesting for me; having to deal with this handicap early on."

Harper nodded. It sucked that before Erika had signed on to be Raven's Peak veteran tankery instructor, the choosers of the team's tank roster fell to three people, himself, Mr. Richards of the AM class, and regretfully the now late Mr. Guildford, formerly the school's advance history teacher. He sighed; thinking how it had been the third member of the 'committee' that screwed things up.

"Yes, I wasn't a fan of the move, however it what I was dealt. When it came time to choose our tanks, I tried to lean towards more mobile and adequately armed and armored tanks, but Mr. Guildford, who has since passed on, pushed for the prototype tanks heavily. He rationalized that the superior firepower of most of the tanks balanced out any faults in the tank roster."

"I noticed that," Erika said. "Some of these tanks make sense, but others seem… rather impractical if I may be honest."

"That they are," Harper agreed. "It's a damn shame that Mr. Richards seemed to agree with Mr. Guildford more than me. I thankfully managed to talk the two out of some greater 'flights of fancy' tanks, but in the end we burned through our money like there was no tomorrow, forcing us to wait until we can acquire more funds to get more tanks."

"Very well, than I hope we can train our students sufficiently enough to deal with these various issues," Erika quietly replied. "Goodness only knows that some of these vehicles will prove to be a challenge for the team."

* * *

Erwin was glad when the bell rang, allowing her, Katie, and Henrietta to leave JROTC and head over to tankery. Their discussion they had in JROTC carried on (despite Katie's attempt to get the two tank nuts to focus on the command chart) into what tanks they wanted to see on the tank roster.

Henrietta wanted nothing more than to see a King Tiger on the tank roster. She explained that besides its impressive firepower, thick armor, and imposing design, it was her favorite tank. Her father apparently had one in his collection, and that she was well versed in driving it. She admitted that its transmission and engine problems were a bitch on days that caused the field to become muddy, but she just enjoyed the tank.

Katie, not as well versed in tank knowledge though having known the more well-known tanks, wanted to see a M36 Jackson. Apparently, her grandfather in the second World War had commanded one and told her of a story about an engagement between his Jackson against two German Panthers during the Battle of the Bulge. The story of his victory was the reason for Katie's approval of the Jackson.

And last, Erwin wanted to be back in command of her Stug III, though she figured that due her team/crew having 5 people, even if she couldn't command it. While her favorite overall tank was the Jagdpanther, her time in command of the Stug III left her fond of the tank killer. While not the most powerful or most armored tank, the Stug III had a powerful enough gun and thick enough armor that when combined with its low silhouette made for a deadly ambusher.

The trio arrived at the tankery hall, with the rest of the class waiting outside. Joan and Christine came over to the trio and greeted them.

"Hello guys, excited to see what we get?" Joan asked.

"Very much so," Henrietta said, nodding in agreement. "I like to see a King Tiger, but if not, then perhaps a Tiger tank will suffice."

"Heh, you just want a German big cat on our team," Katie replied. "Though aren't Tigers and Panthers supposed to be expensive?"

"Expensive yes, but the main reason for that was because the German industry kept building towards perfection instead of just good enough," Erwin replied.

"I see where that would be an issue," Christine said. "Why have something that will last you ten years if you manage to break it in one?"

"Exactly," Erwin said. "So, any reason our class is outside and not inside the tank hall?" Christine sighed.

"Despite it being 78 degrees outside, Sgt. Harper wanted us outside so he can introduce the veteran tankery instructor before guiding each crew to their respective tank," Christine answered, her tone annoyed due to the heat outside. Erwin was about to ask who the instructor was before that became a moot point as Sgt. Harper and someone she had seen once before during the Japanese Nationals came out of the tankery hall.

"Class, formation!" Sgt. Harper called out. Reactively, the team formed up, with each tank commander being in front of their column. Erwin saw to her right Jackie having a slight smirk, probably because she thought she would be the first choice in becoming the team captain.

"Alright," Sgt. Harper began. "Today, we have two major things to go over. The first deals with the person besides me. She is Erika Itsumi, your veteran tankery instructor. She knows firsthand how to win tankery championships, being a 5 year veteran back in Japan. Listen to whatever she says, as she knows more about this sport than even me. Do you have anything you wish to say?"

Erika shook her head.

"No Sgt. Harper, I suppose we should start on the next order of business," Erika commented. Harper nodded.

"Very well. Class, the next order of business is the tanks you will be commanding during the championships. If you follow me into the tank hall, I will call out the crew roster and Erika shall escort you to your tank. Please refrain from jumping around the tank until everyone has been escorted to their tank."

Sgt. Harper then pulled out a sheet of paper and unfolded it.

"First up, Riko Matsumoto, Katie Bell, Christine Taylor, Joan Arc, Henrietta Moran, follow Instructor Erika to your tank," Sgt. Harper ordered.

Erwin and Henrietta were positively excited to see their tank, while Katie, Christine, and Joan for the most part were indifferent. As they followed Erika into the tank hall, Erwin saw an assortment of 6 tanks, in two columns of three, each facing one another. Before Erwin could examine the other tanks, Erika had stopped at the first tank.

"Here you guys are," Erika said. "You five will be crewing the Sturer Emil tank destroyer, a German prototype tank destroyer mounting a 128mm cannon."

Erwin stared at the Sturer Emil, surprised by the choice. While it did mount an impressive 128mm cannon, it had a number of critical flaws. It wasn't very mobile with a meager 8.7 horsepower per ton, it had to rotate the entire hull of the tank to aim the gun, and once it fired, it created a massive plume of smoke that made quick firing an issue. It also could only carry 15 rounds of ammunition, insufficient for a long, drawn out battle.

But the biggest issue dealt with the incredibly thin armor. With at most 50mm of armor at its thickest, it was only useful against small arms. Combined with an open top design, its armor wasn't just bad; it might as well not exist. As far as Erwin could tell, this tank destroyer only managed to succeed in terms of completing one of the armor trinity; firepower.

"Not exactly the tank I would've chosen," Erwin muttered. Henrietta nodded.

"Yeah, I like its gun, but everything else…" Henrietta shuddered, much to the confusion of both Christine and Joan.

"What's wrong with the tank?" Christine asked. "It looks like it could destroy anything it is pointed at."

"Yeah, but it's the epitome of a glass cannon," Erwin remarked. "It can kill practically anything pointed at it, but in return, anything can kill it."

"Ah crap, you have got to be kidding me," Katie moaned. "What about mobility; can it at least get out of Dodge if it needs to?" Henrietta shook her head.

"Nope, with a 8.7 horsepower per ton and having such narrow tracks, we would be lucky if we can get away from whatever is pursuing us," Henrietta replied. "Although if I recall, this tank destroyer does have decent gun elevation and depression."

"How does that help us?" Christine asked. "If anything can kill us, how are we supposed to kill anything?" Surprising Erwin, Joan replied.

"I suppose if we hid most of our tank behind a hill with only the gun exposed, we can fire at our enemies without taking return fire," Joan answered. Erwin raised an eyebrow.

"How do you know that?" Erwin asked. Joan shrugged.

"I often go up to the Oklahoma D-Day paintball event with my older brother and his friends who have a paintball tank," Joan replied. "I often was the gunner of the 'paint tank' and I got used to dealing with the gun elevation and depression."

"Oh, well that's useful to know," Erwin said. "But getting back on track, this tank destroyer is going to be quite a handful to deploy correctly. So what else have we got?"

Erwin, Katie, Henrietta, Joan, and Christine looked around and saw the other tanks, with varying degrees of usefulness. Erwin grimaced.

"Well now, at least this is better than Ooari," Erwin stated. "At least we don't have obsolete tanks."

* * *

"Jacqueline Lindsay, April Ire, Victoria Wales, Lisa Scotts, and Sophia Engels, this is the Churchill Black Prince, a conversion of the Churchill tank mounting a larger cannon and thicker armor, which you will be crewing," Erika stated.

Jackie and the others looked at the black painted tank. Jackie, having her grandfather serve with the British army during WW2, was familiar with the Churchill tank, which her grandfather commanded. She knew that the latest production variants of the Churchill were mounted with a quick firing 75mm cannon, and they were known for two things; they were slow as fuck but could take a proper pounding.

"Jackie, you have any idea of how good this tank is?" April asked. A childhood friend of Jackie, April grew up with the queen of micro and perfection, and thus was comfortable most of the times with Jackie's search of perfection. However, unlike Jackie whose family had history with the British army before moving to America after the Second World War, April didn't have a clue about anything with regards to the military.

"Yes I do, this tank is based on the Churchill tank, but instead of the standard 75mm cannon that later Churchill tanks carried, this carries the 17-pounder anti-tank cannon. Of course, this required a bigger turret and subsequently a bigger hull, but overall we have better armor than most of the tanks here," Jackie answered. "So overall, we have a decent tank."

"What about the gun; I thought the 17-pounder weren't well liked," Lisa asked. Jackie liked Lisa due to her knowledge about anything historical, including military history.

"Well, it has high penetration, but most of the ammo it used didn't come with an explosive filler, and when compared to American 90mm cannons, the 17 pounder took longer to reload and was only marginally more accurate, so that is why the 17-pounder fell into disuse," Jackie answered. She however soon regret her comment on penetration.

"So the Black prince has deeper penetration but it doesn't go bang?" Victoria said, a shit eating grin on her face. "Wow, it must've sucked in bed."

Victoria, while smart in class courses, was a massive pervert, taking seemingly innocent phrases and perverting them to make everyone groan at the lengths she went.

"Victoria, do I need to drill you again in being proper?!" Jackie snarled. "You need to get your head out of the gutter!"

"Um Jackie, can you hold off on berating Vicky for her dirty mind later?" Sophia asked. Jackie looked at her new friend Sophia. So far, Sophia seemed to be quite quiet and timid, not wanting to cause too much issue for anyone. Of the five girls, Sophia was easily the quietest one, only speaking up when needed.

"And why is that?" Jackie asked. Sophia pointed across the tank hall toward Erwin's group, who seemed to be raising eyebrows.

"Because they seem quite intent to hear what you say, and it could hurt your ability to becoming the team leader," Sophia pointed out. Victoria decided to take this moment to aggravate the perfectionist.

"Oh, so they want to hear about our private affairs; how naughty! Perhaps they will want front row seating on the action!"

"SHUT UP VICTORIA, OR I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL DUCT TAPE YOUR MOUTH!"

* * *

"Irene Romanov, Alexandra Kursk, Volga Gurlukovich, and Tanya Moskvin, this is your tank; the SU-100Y tank destroyer, mounted with a naval 130mm cannon that saw brief service during the Battle of Moscow," Erika said, rubbing the back of her neck out of sheer frustration with going through her repertoire of introducing crews to their tanks.

The four students of Eastern European descent looked at the green behemoth of a tank destroyer. They were all close due to being in the same apartment complex and all having traced their family history to their grandfathers and grandmothers in serving the same T-34 during the battle of Stalingrad.

"So, this is our tank , da?" Irene said. She was the leader of the tight knit group, and while she didn't have that much money, she did have extravagant taste. "Well, at least it mounts a pretty powerful gun."

"But it lacks a turret," Alexandra pointed out. She was the group's rationalist, keeping everyone from going crazy with wild ideas or going over budget when they went shopping. "And it is quite tall/. Won't we be vulnerable to return fire?"

"Not if we kill 'em first!" Volga said, pounding her fist into her palm. "We just have to get the first shot off, and keep on firing if there is more than one tank!"

Of the four, Volga had the most aggressive personality, always seeking the simplest, if not the most brutal, solution to any problem. Got a car that needs to be torn apart; grab a sledgehammer. Have a stump that needs removing; dig around it and then lit it on fire. Oddly though, Volga hated getting dirty personally, and was a bit of a neat freak.

"So are you volunteering to be the loader of this thing's gun?" Tanya asked. She smiled as Volga paled at the thought of getting dirty, handling those heavy shells and loading them into the breach wouldn't be a clean job. While Irene was the leader, Volga the zealot, and Alexandra the cool head, Tanya was the silent sadist, finding pleasure in the misfortune of those around her.

"Argh, I don't want to be the one loading those heavy shells!" Volga argued. "Nothing about handling heavy shells is clean. I'll do it if needed, but then I want you to handle cleaning of my uniform!"

"Pfft, fat chance of me doing that," Tanya replied. "I could care less if your clothes were dunked in kerosene and then rolled in sand; I won't be the one cleaning your clothes."

"Enough you two," Irene commanded. "Anyway, Alexandra is the one that is going to be loading the gun, as I will be the commander, Volga is the best shot, and you Tanya are the only one that can drive."

"Ha, if you call driving Tanya's father's monstrosity in a straight line driving for more than ten meters, then I'm qualified for shooting heavy caliber ordance," Alexandra joked. "Seriously, why the fuck can't your father get something other than that steel coffin of a car?"

* * *

"Kelly Paten, Mary Jackson, Roberta, Rosanna, and Rachel Lee, the tank you will be commanding is the M18 with a 90mm cannon fitted," Erika stated.

The five girls looked at the modified tank destroyer in hidden but high excited interest.

"Now this is going to kick ass!" Kelly shouted once Erika was out of earshot. "Not only do we get a bad ass cannon, we can drive as fast as fucking fast as we dare!"

"Amen to that!" agreed Mary Jackson. "A pity this things has toilet paper for armor, but it is fast as all hell! Hey, what else does our team have?" The five looked around, only to groan in disappointment.

"So far from the crewed tanks, we have one that I am certain a sprinting infantryman could outrun, and the other two are marginally faster. The other two don't look like they can go as fast as us," commented the first of the read-headed Lee triplets Roberta.

"Yeah, but so far we all have tanks with guns larger than 75mm, so we have excellent firepower," continued Rosanna.

"But except for the Black Prince, we seem to be lacking thick armor," stated Rachel.

"So overall, we're crap for mobility, excelling in the department of big ass guns, and up a creek with no paddle in terms of armor," the triplets answered in unison, finishing their overview of the team's tanks.

"Can you three please keep the in-sync chatter to a minimum please; it's rather creepy to be on the receiving end of," Kelly asked. The triplets looked at her for a moment.

"Nope," the trio deadpanned, popping the 'P' in the exact same fashion to disturb the unfortunate tank commander.

"Seriously, must you do that?" Mary asked. "I have to agree with Kelly on this issue; it is beyond creepy at times."

"Well if you like I suppose-"

"-we can have the three of-"

"-us speak in alternating order for a sentence," replied Rosanna, Rachel, and Roberta in that order. The non-triplets of the M18 90mm GMC crew felt the hair on their arms raise a bit, not used to the synchronization of the triplets.

"For our sake's please don't do that!" both Kelly and Mary pleaded, though it was to fall on deaf ears.

* * *

"Adele Lelouch, Claire Clearwater, Vera Noire, Silvia Taifun, and Caityln Emerald, the tank you five will be crewing is the French ARL-44 heavy tank, the French army's solution to its post-war army needs," Erika said.

The five girls looked at the blue heavy tank, each one with varying levels of frowning at the monstrosity of the tank before them. Though none of them were well versed in tank history, even they could tell that the ARL-44 was going to be an utter bitch.

"Hey Adele, can I be the first to speak what is on everyone's mind?" Claire asked. Adele nodded. "We are supremely fucked, shit outta luck, doomed to die, and ass over the line."

"I have to agree, I mean, look at the fucking track and suspensions!" Vera quipped in. "I don't know tanks that well, but that looks like World War One grade designs. Those tracks are so narrow and they have to around the entire hull. What the fuck were the French thinking?!"

"I truly don't know," Silvia answered. "I mean, it looks like it has a decent gun and it does have frontal sloped armor, but it seems, I don't know, quite too large for what the tank has."

"It is," Adele finally spoke. "The ARL-44 was supposed to be the French Tiger, but I guess due to their horrible design choices, the ARL-44 is significantly larger than the Tiger tank."

"Go figure," Caityln remarked. "So we get an outdated design of a tank while our teammates seemingly have better tanks than us?" Adele shrugged.

"I truly don't know about that, I mean, two of them lack turrets, and only one seems more heavily armored than us. But I guess this means a lot of nights of no sleep while I research our team's tank; this is just great."

The four smiled sadly at their leader Adele. Adele had the personality of wanting to know everything if it related to her, and so she would often times overwork herself into exhaustion. No one really had a cure for Adele's thirst for knowledge, no one.

"C'mon Adele, you don't need to know everything about every tank we have on our team," Claire stated. "Simply focus on our tank so we can command it better. Don't you dare do what you did when you wanted to learn chess."

The group shuddered at the memory. Adele, after playing a game of chess against her brother, decided the best way to get better was to research the game. Normally, to any sane person, this would mean to learn how each pieces move, some basic tactics and openings, and maybe watch a few games played by professionals. Adele however decided the best way forward was to learn every opening, every tactic, and suckered her close friends into being unwillingly test opponent.

Her obsession with being a master chess player only ended when Caitlyn, Silvia, Claire, and Vera decided to challenge Adele with a simple puzzle; win a game of chess without losing any pieces against one of them. Needless to say, the four girls won their way out of Adele's obsession.

"But still, it couldn't hurt to know about the capabilities of the other tanks," Adele began to argue, only to see Vera pull something out of her jacket. "Umm, Vera, why do you have duct tape?"

* * *

"Aki Ran, Kim Li, Yamada Bell, Montgomery Oum, and Mia Koto, the Type 5 Chi-Ri Japanese Medium tank is yours to command," Erika informed the five Asian-American teenagers. Erika was about to say more when she saw Sgt. Harper waving her over. "Apologizes, but your Sgt. Harper is requesting my attention."

"It's no problem," Aki Ran, the tank commander, replied. She watched as Erika walked away, sighing quietly.

"Something on your mind Aki?" her closest friend Kim asked. Aki smiled before shaking her head.

"No, I just wanted to talk to Erika about my cousin," Aki said. "My cousin is on Black Forest Academy's tankery team, and served as Erika driver during the Japanese Nationals. So I was hoping to talk to her and see how my cousin was doing, seeing as we don't get to talk much."

"Oh I see," Kim said. "So if your cousin is a tankery driver, do you know much about tanks?" The others watched as Aki's smile faltered.

"Ehehe, not really," Aki said, scratching her neck nervously. "And what I do know is only about the tanks of Black Forest Academy, which are German, not the Japanese that this tank is."

"Oh well, if you don't know much about tanks, then I suppose we can simply assume we can make some guess about our tank until we can do some research on them," Yamada suggested. Yamada came from a family that predominately worked in the restaurant business they owned, something that Yamada hoped to get out of.

"Well it is a fairly large tank, easily the second largest here behind that blue tank that Adele is sitting next to," Montgomery, a otaku that couldn't see the issue that Adele was in.

"Umm, why is Adele duct taped like that?" Mia, a soft spoken girl, asked, covering what Montgomery didn't with Adele's situation. "That doesn't look comfortable at all."

"She'll be fine," waved of Montgomery, ignoring or not noticing Adele struggling against her binds. "So if the Type 5 Chi-Ri is larger than most of the tanks here, then it should be heavily armored."

"That seems fair to assume," Aki said, agreeing with Montgomery's assumption. "And look at the turret; it too is rather large, so it must be so it can deal with the recoil of that cannon, so the gun must be good."

"Yes, but what about the tank's mobility?" Kim asked. Aki shrugged.

"Well, the tracks are wider so it should have decent weight dispersion, which will help on soft ground, and so long as we have a decent power to weight ratio, the tank should be mobile."

"So we lucked out then?" Yamada asked. Aki nodded.

"I guess, but until we take it for a spin and get some information on it, we won't know. But hey, at least we got a turret unlike two of our team's crews!"

* * *

**Author's Note: So finally, you guys get to see the new and revamped Raven's Peak tank lineup. Don't worry, they will be getting more 'sucessful' tanks, but this was to introduce the 6 'old guard' tanks. What I mean by this will be explained in due to, but for now you'll have to wait and see. But onto the reviews!**

**-William Lamb: Prototype tanks are interesting, as they never really get to be tested, so they always provide material for interesting discussions as to whether or not they would've been good. And yes, assholes like Hicks will be receiving a royal ass kicking in the future.**

** : Yeah, I agree with what you said, so I will try and avoid the mistakes of those two chapters in the future. Sometimes though I will read the sentence as I meant it and not as it is, so that can lead to me screwing up a sentence.**

**-Theralion: Ah jeez, your review is long so I will cover one aspect of your review as I am bound to touch up on the others in the future. The reason for Jackie's surname change was partly a mistake at remembering her last name and partly because I wanted to pay respect to my step-father who was more of a father than my own biological father. Anyway, Jackie Lindsay sounds better than Jackie Lambert in my opinion.**

**Don't worry, I will also try and get Erwin to not be one dimensional this time around, so give me some time and work it out.**

**-TMI Fairy: Yeah getting rid of the semovente 90/53 was a good decision on my part, and I only have a 2-3-1 ratio of heavies-TDs-medium tanks, so hopefully that isn't going overboard with the heavy tanks. And next time, don't forget to take your meds. I might have a character get pregnant, or I might not. Depends on how I feel, but it won't be the main characters.**

**-Guest: Nice suggestion, and here it is! I was originally going to have the T23 US medium tank as the US-prototype tank, but this idea is so much better with Raven's Peak's 'superior prototype firepower' ideal. So thank you!**

**Ah, not much to talk about, but the next chapter will be a training montage if you will before the inevitable Erwin vs Jackie match to determine who will lead Raven's Peak's tankery team in the US nationals which hopefully will be the chapter thereafter. Until then, please follow, favorite, and review the story!**


	4. Author's Note Very important

**Author's Note**

**Hello everyone, this is Panzer4life, and this A/N that is going out to all of my stories, and it deals with a very sudden event that pertains to all of my stories, so I urge you to read this.**

**At the beginning of June, I woke up, preparing to head to my new job at the local gas station when I found to my horror my computer wouldn't start right. It went automatically to the repair page, did not boot up Windows 10, and I had no means to bypass. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, seemed to work. Taking apart the computer to clean it, trying to reinstall Windows 10, using all the options afforded to me by the repair page, none of it worked. So I had to shell out over $600 to buy myself a laptop.**

**Now, why does this affect you, my dear readers? Well, you see I was a dumbass and didn't think to have a backup of all of my files, **_**including the files with all of my writing projects**_**.**

**Yes, you read that right, all of my writing projects. All of my current and pre-published/proto stories, gone with my computer. So this puts me into a pickle; what the fuck do I do? Some stories will be easy to get back into things and start writing, others not so much. **

**So what I am going to is list the status of my stories, and if they are getting the axe, explaining why.**

**All of the following will be continued;**

**-A Certain Scientific Kugelblitz (rewrite)**

**-A Certain Occult Connection**

**-A Certain Scientific Angelica**

**-Arc of Fate**

**-Demon Lord of the Empire**

**-Jaune Arc the Praetor**

**-Gaige the Mechromancer Huntress**

**-Rise of Remnant**

**The following will be canceled;**

**-A Certain Demonic Accelerator: This story is popular, despite only having 3 chapters to it done, and its easy to see why; the story has a good premise, with lots of room for potential. So why is it being canceled; simple, I can't bring myself to write it anymore. I open a word document, write a few thousand words, only to erase everything because it feels like shit, doesn't mesh well, or has a major logical fallacy. That and I had lost all of the work I had done to doing chapter 4 and I just can't.**

**-A Reaping Rose: Again, this was a popular story, so why is this getting axe'd? Simple, I lost interest in writing it. That and Season 3 and 4 of Rwby, plus Elsword's additional content since I began writing, threw one hell of a wrench into my plans. So I might give it another go later, but right now, its dead.**

**-A Rose's Endwar: Ah, this was a story that I had great plans for, was super hyped to write, but fell into the trap of being unable to make up my damn mind where to take the story. This in turn hurt the story overall, and my ability to write it. So this one is being led to Madam Guillotine.**

**-Of Blood and Steel: Seriously, this story has so little going for it, and I've lost interest in Girls Und Panzer, so yeah, to the firing squad with this one.**

**-Remnant Crisis: Damn, another story I really liked, had decently laid out, only to have the issue of hating everything I wrote when it came time to write for it. So not only am I not continuing this story, but it's getting eaten by a sexual Tyrannosaurs. **

**So damn, I'm cancelling 4 of my stories (which will be taken down in a week's time), what will I be doing to make up for these loses? Well you see, I am going to create 4 new stories to replace these ones. One I have been planning for ages based on my favorite franchise, two based around stories I haven't done any fan-fic for yet, and one that I had planned on publishing around Halloween last year but didn't because I didn't have enough material for me to publish it quite yet. What are they, well, Im going to leave that as a surprise as 1) I need to set up my writing folder once more, and 2) they won't be published for awhile. Oh well.**

**So expect me to return hopefully in full force to writing as with my part time job I can think about my stories in peace. In the mean time, please, read, review, follow, and favorite my stories, and I'll catch you guys next time.**

**PS: Before I forget, if anyone wants to take over any of the stories I am cancelling, you have my complete blessing.**


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